Dreadlocks strike a distinct balance between no-fuss and high-maintenance. This striking do saves you from many day-to-day styling woes, but it also requires regular moisturizing, tightening and defrizzing. To keep your dreads from drying out, turn to a simple spray made with lavender essential oil. This antibacterial oil, often used to ease scrapes and burns, moisturizes your locks and leaves them with a pleasant, soothing scent.

Fill a spray bottle with clean, room-temperature water.

Add about five to 15 drops of lavender essential oil. The amount of oil to use depends on the size of the bottle, your body's natural pH level, which determines its rate of oil production, and the thickness of your dreads. This differs for everybody, so start with a smaller amount and experiment with more oil as you continue to use the spray until you find the ratio that works for you. Remember, this is a daily treatment, so err on the side of less oil -- you don't want to weigh your hair down with too much grease.

Close the bottle and shake it to thoroughly mix the oil and water.

Mist the entire surface of your hair with the spray, then lift and part your hair with your fingers to apply a light, even coating to your scalp. Apply this homemade spray daily to keep your dreads moisturized and pleasantly scented.

Items you will need

Spray bottle

Lavender essential oil

Tips

Tea tree, mint and jasmine essential oils also do the trick here if you prefer a different scent.

If your dreads itch, massage a few drops of jojoba oil into your scalp to ease the irritation.

You can also make dreadlock accelerator, which serves as a tightening agent, at home. Simply mix about a tablespoon of sea salt with 2 cups of clean water in a pan or container. Dunk your clean dreads -- just your hair, as salt on your scalp can cause itchiness -- in the solution, and allow them to soak for about five minutes, then let them air dry completely. Repeat once per day during the tightening phase of dreadlock styling.

Lavender essential oils also help fight dandruff. For an intensive treatment, mix about 15 drops of lavender oil with 2 tablespoons of almond or olive oil, and warm the mixture. Massage the oils into your scalp, wrap your head in a towel or shower cap for about an hour and then shampoo the oil out.

Resources

About the Author

Dan Ketchum has been a professional writer since 2003, with work appearing online and offline in Word Riot, Bazooka Magazine, Anemone Sidecar, Trails and more. Dan's diverse professional background spans from costume design and screenwriting to mixology, manual labor and video game industry publicity.